Please, God, no.

This is Kyungsoo’s first thought as he boards Hogwarts Express and discovers all the carriages he passes to be full. He feels infinitely small and annoyed, especially at the unreliableness of Muggle transportation—he’d bet all the coins in his pouch that he would've been the first one on the train if only he had been allowed to apparate.

A blessing (or curse, as Kyungsoo would decide in the next few seconds) comes in the form of a carriage only 3/4ths occupied. He slides open the door, standing a bit awkwardly as he waits for the three boys in front of him to stop their chattering.

“You have a three toed tree toad?!” A gangly looking boy with a curly mop of hair exclaims excitedly, eyes shining.

“Yep,” The owner of the toad says proudly, hoisting it up into the air on his palm. “Behold!”

Kyungsoo clears his throat and two of the three boys look at him with surprise.

“Jongdae,” one of them says urgently. He's the only one not looking at Kyungsoo—his eyes are trained on the toad. “Jongdae.”

“What?”

The three toed tree toad leaps out of the palm of Jongdae’s hand, onto the seat, then the floor, and disappears into the hallway, faster than anyone could react.

“..Uh oh,” Jongdae says flatly.

The boy who had warned him laughs loudly.

“Be free, toad,” Curly-head whispers forlornly.

“So… you guys know each other?” Kyungsoo asks, seated next to curly-head, who, as it turns out, has an actual name—Chanyeol.

“We just happened to sit together,” Chanyeol answers, “But we’re totally best friends now! Right, guys?!” He lifts up both his hands for a triple high five.

Baekhyun high-fives him with both of his hands too and Jongdae just nods, having no hands to high-five. Kyungsoo sits very still, unsure of what he just witnessed.

“Practice makes perfect,” Chanyeol pouts.

“Hey, what’s that in your robe?” Jongdae says suddenly, pointing out a mysterious form moving around.

Chanyeol slowly brings out a ferret. “It’s Toben,” he explains.

“..Was that on the list of Hogwarts approved pets?” Kyungsoo asks, leaning away from the furry creature.

“No,” Jongdae laughs, “Chanyeol is just weird.”

“He’s really well-behaved,” Chanyeol promises, setting Toben on top of his hair. “Now that you guys know my secret, you can’t tell anyone else!”

“It’s like a nest..that’s why it’s so curly…” Kyungsoo mumbles to himself.

“What’d you say?” Chanyeol turns towards him, tilting his head inquisitively.

“Nothing,” Kyungsoo says quickly.

Baekhyun screams suddenly, flailing his limbs around wildly, and Jongdae scoots to the opposite end of the carriage despite Baekhyun’s cries for help.

“He’s attacking me! Oh my god, my hair!” Baekhyun wails, swiping at the air around his head.

“Toben!” Chanyeol says sternly. “Stop it! He’s my friend! No attacking friends!”

Toben jumps off Baekhyun and slinks back into Chanyeol’s hands before being returned to the top of his head. Jongdae is practically crying with laughter as he wheezes, “C-Chanyeol has an attack ferret!”

“I definitely wanna get into Gryffindor,” Baekhyun says through a mouthful of chocolate. “I hear they’re awesome. Besides, red is my color.”

“Those are some really great reasons,” Jongdae drawls, trying not to laugh. “Super solid.”

“Honestly, I don’t really care what house I get picked for. I just want all of us to be in the same house! Wouldn’t that be so fun?” Chanyeol grins, turning to Kyungsoo. “Even you, Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo chews his orange slice carefully before making an apologetic face.

“Sorry, Chanyeol, but I already know what house I’m going to be in.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” Baekhyun challenges.

“Ravenclaw,” Kyungsoo replies simply.

Chanyeol is definitely not crying. No, not at all—not even a little bit. There’s no lump in his throat when Baekhyun gets in Gryffindor, Jongdae in Slytherin, Kyungsoo in Ravenclaw, and himself in Hufflepuff. There’s no sinking feeling in his chest as Baekhyun offers an apologetic shrug, Jongdae shakes his head, and as Kyungsoo averts his gaze.

It definitely doesn’t feel like his heart has been crushed into a gazillion little pieces when they’re all led to different corners of the castle, and as warm and inviting as the Hufflepuff common room is, the first thing Chanyeol does is rush into his room and hide under his covers.

Not because he’s crying, of course.

Well, maybe a little bit.

“What’s wrong?”

The side of his mattress dips as someone sits down, and Chanyeol is so upset he doesn’t even move.

“Are you homesick? …Or maybe you didn’t want to be sorted into Hufflepuff?” The prefect that rounded all the first-years up laughs a little. “We’re not so bad. A little underrated and unnoticed, maybe, compared to the others. But I don’t see what’s wrong with that. Hey, think of it like this: we’re the underdog! Everyone loves a good underdog.”

“I-It’s not that,” Chanyeol frowns, finally sitting up, covers still pulled up to his chest. “None of my friends got sorted into the same house with me. We’re all in different houses…”

“I know it that you aren’t in the same house, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be friends anymore. It seems bad now, but I promise it’s not the end of the world. The only thing you have to watch out for? Quidditch game rivalries,” The prefect jokes.

Chanyeol smiles a little, using his sleeve to wipe his cheeks.

“I guess you’re right. I wouldn’t stop being friends with them just because of our house differences, and I don’t think they would stop hanging out with me either. Friendship over house rivalries, right?”

“There we go,” the prefect grins. “That’s the Hufflepuff in you speaking. Come on, let’s go back downstairs. Everyone’s throwing a celebration for you guys.”

Chanyeol hops out of bed, taking the upperclassman’s hand gratefully.

“Welcome to the family.”

“Whoa, was that the Grey Lady?” Baekhyun exclaims, a bit too loudly for Kyungsoo’s taste as he runs over. The Grey Lady disappears into the nearest wall.

“She doesn’t respond to that name,” Kyungsoo sighs. “You should call her Helena next time. And tone down your voice.”

“That’s awesome. Was she talking to you?” Baekhyun goes on, hardly even registering Kyungsoo’s annoyance.

“Yes, I keep her company sometimes.”

“So you’re friends with your house ghost. That’s…kind of cool, and also really lame and nerdy at the same time,” Baekhyun laughs.

“Why are you here again?” Kyungsoo purses his lips. He doesn’t feel like being pranked again today, and who knows what Baekhyun has up his sleeve this time—literally. Chanyeol might be hiding somewhere nearby too.

“Running from Junmyeon,” Baekhyun explains casually.

“Junmyeon? He’s…?”

“Second-year Gryffindor, always looks pissed, kinda like you, studies a lot, also like you.”

“Right. And why are you running from him?” Kyungsoo regrets asking almost immediately.

“Not just me,” Baekhyun grins, as if he’s actually proud of the fact. “Chanyeol too. Junmyeon caught me sneaking him into the common room and started lecturing us, threatening to report the offense or whatever. Chanyeol called him a narc, his face started getting really red, and then we split.”

“He should have hexed you two,” Kyungsoo says, and Baekhyun lets out an offended gasp.

“Soo! How could you?!”

“Ugh, don’t call me that. Besides, I’m just being honest.”

“Well, could you not be so honest?”

“No.”

“Wow. No wiggle room there, huh?”

“Like I said, just being honest.”

“This is so awesome,” Jongdae says, voice full of awe. “Why don’t we come here all the time?”

“It’s supposed to be a treat,” Minseok laughs,  handing Jongdae a cone of no-melt ice cream. “Imagine how little we’d all get done if we just spent all our time at Hogsmeade.”

“Are you kidding? This beats studying any day,” Jongdae grins, boots crunching in the snow.

“Right,” Minseok rolls his eyes. “Hey, where are your friends? The tall one and the loud one. Wouldn’t you rather be spending time with them?”

“No way,” Jongdae scoffs. “I ditched Chanyeol at Dervish and Banges, and I’m pretty sure Baekhyun is still wandering around Zonko’s, trying out all their stuff without permission. We hang out all the time—we even have the same classes. But not us. I feel like I hardly see you sometimes..” He admits quietly, looking down at his cone.

Minseok smiles, linking their arms together, and Jongdae wishes his beanie could cover his red cheeks.

“Well, what about you?” He asks, throwing Minseok’s question back at him. “Where’s that Ravenclaw you like to hang out with? And what about those two Gryffindors always staring at you? Unless you’re not friends with them, in which case you should definitely hex them the next time you see them.”

“Yifan is in the astronomy tower,” Minseok shakes his head with a little laugh. “He loves Honeydukes, but apparently there’s this very interesting star that’s going to be visible tonight. He did ask me to bring back an entire bag of chocolate frogs, though.”

“Speaking of frogs..” Jongdae begins nervously, the rest of his sentence fizzling into nothing as he winces, remembering the incident that occurred just a few days ago.

“Your three toed tree toad? Yeah, it totally snuck into the prefect’s bed and scared the living daylights out of her. Hey, look on the bright side. No one knows it belongs to you, so no one is gonna get punished,” Minseok shrugs.

“I have half a mind to just let it keep roaming the halls,” Jongdae grumbles. “Too many people would go after me if they found out he was mine.”

“Just don’t forget to leave out some food for the little guy,” Minseok says.

“I’m a Slytherin, not a monster,” Jongdae jokes before stopping in his tracks. “Hey, is that the Three Broomsticks?”

“Yeah,” Minseok confirms. He raises an eyebrow at Jongdae. “Why?”

“Let’s get firewhiskey.”

Minseok flicks him on the forehead playfully.

“In your dreams, first-year!”